Intro:

World champion Sebastien Ogier of France opened up a 11.8-second advantage over Volkswagen teammate Jari-Matti Latvala after 14 stages in the Rally of Australia in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales on Saturday (13th September).

Script:

Day Two of Rally Australia took place on an overcast day in Nambucca, New South Wales.

A win in the first of two stages on Saturday allowed Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala to grab the lead.

He was quickest in the 8.96km stage by 1.5-seconds over Ogier and the gap between the warring duo was just 4.1seconds heading into the afternoon session.

Yet with four afternoon stages there was plenty of window for change on the leaderboard.

Robert Kubica was in 8th, yet he threw his Ford Fiesta into a ditch in the afternoon stage and lost considerable time. Ending in 10th and five minutes behind the leader.

Ogier correctly guessed that the rain would stay away and he elected to fit three hard and one soft tyre - it proved to be a masterstroke.

With Latvala choosing two soft compounds on the rear of his car and two hard up the front, the roads remained dry and Latvala couldn't keep up with the champion.

The Finn lost over 13 seconds to his team mate and conceded the rally lead.

The battle for third place continued to rage behind them, with Andreas Mikkelsen of Norway and Briton Kris Meeke swapping places four times over the course of the day.

Meeke had the better of his opponent on the day stages, and held on to remain in third heading into Sunday's rally.

Yet, the Northern Irishman lies 23.9 seconds off Ogier's lead and the race should come down to the top two come Sunday.